WASHINGTON, DC — A new report from Tim Maurer and Robert Morgus at New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) identifies thirty global “swing states,” whose behavior is likely to influence the future of Internet governance.

In Tipping the Scale: An Analysis of Global Swing States in the Internet Governance Debate, Tim Maurer, Research Fellow with OTI, and Robert Morgus, Research Assistant with OTI, define a “swing state in foreign policy” as “a state whose mixed political orientation gives it a greater impact than its population or economic output might warrant and that has the resources that enable it to decisively influence the trajectory of an international process.”

The authors explain how, following the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, the focus has been on countries that are already part of predefined groups of countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa (or the “IBSA” group).But, citing new analysis — including the countries’ respective voting records at the WCIT and various memberships — the report identifies a new group of 30 swing states that includes Argentina, Indonesia, Mongolia, Ghana and Malaysia.

“Their behavior will shape this global governance debate and what norms and institutions will govern the Internet,” Maurer and Morgus highlight.